philando castile’s mother clears lunch debt of 300+ students

Philando Castile’s legacy of kindness and generosity is the gift that keeps on giving. Before he was shot and killed by Minnesota police, then 32-year-old Castile worked as a cafeteria supervisor at J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School where he would regularly pay for lunch for students who couldn’t afford it. Since his death, the Philando Castile Relief Foundation has been launched in his honor by his family. They have cleared the lunch debts of countless students across Minnesota amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations.

Three years after his death, Castile’s mother, Valerie Castile has continued the program, most recently with an $8,000 to the Robbinsdale Cooper High School in New Hope, Minnesota, wiping out the lunch debt of more than 300 seniors.

“Our kids are the future leaders of our country and we need to take care of them in every way possible,” Valerie Castile said. “Most families live paycheck to paycheck, and the last thing they need to be worrying about is how can I pay this debt at the end of the year.”

With outstanding lunch debt, senior students faced the possibility of being kept from graduating.

“This is something that Philando held near and dear to his heart,” Castile told a Minnesota news station.